


Found Your Little Wing

by LilyAceOfDiamonds



Series: We All Need Friends [4]
Category: Titans (TV 2018)
Genre: Jason Todd’s Trauma, is ‘Jason Todd’s Trauma’ a tag?, now it is
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-19
Updated: 2020-02-19
Packaged: 2021-02-28 04:54:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,562
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22798153
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LilyAceOfDiamonds/pseuds/LilyAceOfDiamonds
Summary: Roy keeps getting texts from a worried Dick Grayson, and has a heart-to-heart with Jason about blame, fault, and lying to yourself. They also talk about Dick a lot. No, not that kind of dick.
Series: We All Need Friends [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1624585
Comments: 3
Kudos: 127





	Found Your Little Wing

**Author's Note:**

> I ... I was going to write something fluffy, and then mama-cat!Grayson wanted answers, and suddenly angst happened. They talk about self-blame and the whole Deathstroke/falling trauma, I have no idea how to tag that whole thing, but while cuddled on the couch because Roy gives Affection and Jason pretends to hate it but actually likes it. So that’s better? Hopefully? I don’t even know anymore, I’m just along for the ride. The boys are in charge.

Roy wakes up one morning to a text from Grayson.

>>Harper, any word about Jason? -Dick

<<I know who you are, Grayson, you don’t need to sign your damn texts

>>Yeah, yeah. Fuck you, too.

>> -Dick

Roy rolls his eyes at his phone when the second text came in. Dick had always been a pretentious idiot. It was nice to see that some things never change.

Jason Todd has been staying with him for ten days now. He hasn’t told any of the Titans, he promised that he wouldn’t tell them until Jay was ready.

But what is he supposed to tell Dick now?

He needs to talk to the new Robin.

Mind made up, Roy climbs out of bed and heads out into the kitchen-slash-living-area. He knows Jason is going to be awake already, and sure enough the younger boy is curled up on the sofa reading something. Probably one of the books Roy got from Ollie when he went to go pick up the stuff that he had left to his friend’s safe-keeping until he got back on his feet.

Ollie and Dinah had tried to get Roy to enjoy reading, but he prefers hearing and telling stories to reading them. It feels more natural to him. That doesn’t mean a box of ‘classics’ didn’t end up on his bookshelf, they just sit there gathering dust at his place instead of Oliver’s. Until Jason came, at least.

He plops down on the couch next to Jason. “Wha’cha reading there, Jaybird?”

Jason doesn’t even look up, reading even as he turns the book so Roy can see the front cover. Machiavelli’s ‘The Prince’.

Roy hums. Dick had loved that book, because Bruce had loved that book. He had read bits and pieces out loud to Roy when they were stuck inside at the Manor or the Queen’s estate, their mentors conferring with each other and leaving them to amuse themselves.

“The prince must learn from the fox and the lion, because the lion is defenseless against traps and the fox is defenseless against wolves. One must be a fox to recognize traps and a lion to frighten wolves.” Jason slowly lifts his eyes to stare at Roy, who shrugs. “Or something like that, anyway.”

“Why do you people keep quoting this guy every time I mention him?”

Roy snorts. “You mentioned him to Dick? He can probably quote that entire fucking book. Wayne loves Machiavelli.”

“I fucking know. I don’t get what’s so special about him.”

“Me either. I only remember that one part.” Roy shrugs and looks over at the younger kid as he goes back to his book, not quite sure how to approach this conversation.

“Speaking of Dick...”

That wasn’t it. Jason’s spine stiffens and the book falls to the floor as he leans away from Roy, eyes narrowing. “What the fuck about him?”

“He’s been asking about you. He’s worried.”

Jason snorts, clearly not believing him that Dick is concerned about his well-being. “Sure he is. He wasn’t before, why the fuck would he care now?”

Roy grimaces, turning to face him. “Look, kid. He does care, he’s just really bad at social interactions with regular people. Strategy and what to do with bad guys? He can do that, easy, Bruce trained him in that. But talking to someone about their feelings and mental health didn’t quite make it into the Bat’s curriculum, even with Alfred.”

“No shit.” Jason’s tone is unchanged, but he relaxes slightly. Roy counts it as a win.

“Would you have told him, if he had asked? About the falling, the nightmares. I mean, you only told me because I kept asking. If you told Dick you were fine, he’s going to trust that you were telling him the truth.”

Jason glances over at Roy and looks away quickly. “You didn’t.”

“Yeah, well. I’m well-versed in the art of lying to yourself, takes one to know one. Dick is too straight-laced to think like that.”

They sit quietly for a minute, lost in their own thoughts. Roy slings his arm over the back of the couch behind Jason, and the kid leans back towards him slightly.

“Rose said we needed a super-shrink to deal with all our problems.” Jason is smirking when Roy looks over at him, and Roy grins in response as he pulls Jason into a sideways hug with only a token protest from the other boy.

“Rose was probably right, Jaybird. That’s why Harley has such a good business.”

Jason’s head shifts on Roy’s shoulder as he squints up at him. “Harley? Like, Harley fucking Quinn?”

Roy hums again. “Yeah. She’s the unofficial shrink of the vigilante-superhero-villain community. She was a psychiastrist before Arkham, after all. Besides, who else is going to believe us about all the crazy shit we’ve been through?”

“Good point.” Jason chews on his lip as he thinks, and Roy knows not to interrupt. He runs his fingers through the kid’s hair gently, letting him think as long as he needs to.

“I don’t want to see him. I can’t.”

Roy nods at the admission, thinking. “What if I tell him you’re safe, so he doesn’t have to worry. I’ll tell him you’re with me and forbid him or anyone else on the team from coming here to talk until you decide to reach out. He doesn’t know where I live right now, anyway.”

He’s quiet, thinking it over as he plays with the edge of a blanket.

“I guess that’s okay.” He mutters it so softly that Roy almost can’t make out the words.

“Jason. Look at me.” Roy looks down to meet Jason’s piercing gaze. “If I tell him, he’ll know you’re fine. Well, physically, anyway. The point is, he won’t worry or try to come bring you back.”

“Because I’m with you?”

“Yeah. Dick knows I’m not gonna lie to him. Always been a shitty liar, anyway.”

Jason snorts. “You lie all the time, Harper. Those stories about hunting wild animals with a fucking bow and arrow in canyons and shit?”

“Hey, those are embellishments, not lies! Practically a requirement in storytelling, you know.” Jason had asked him how he had learned to shoot archery, on one of the nights where Jason’s nightmares had woken Roy up too. He had sat up with the kid until he had to leave for his shift, telling him about riding through the Diné reservation with his adopted tribe and the choice between learning how to shoot or choosing to go hungry that night. So maybe he haan’t been caught in a massive stampede, sue him, that sounded better than ‘almost run over by an elk I startled at a watering hole’.

“Sure, whatever you say, Harper.”

“I told you I wasn’t gonna tell him without your permission, kid, and ‘I guess that’s okay’ isn’t gonna cut it. That ain’t permission.”

He could practically feel Jason roll his eyes, even if he wasn’t looking up at him anymore. “I’m not a fucking kid, I’m Robin, remember?”

“Yeah, and Robin 1.0 was a kid just like you, and just like me. Putting on a mask doesn’t turn you into an adult. Even if certain vigilante superheroes forget that sometimes.”

“Yeah, well. Whatever. Yes, you can text him. Can you — can you tell him — I’m sorry?”

Roy pulls him closer with another hug, and Jason slides the rest of his body over so they’re leaning against each other without falling over.

“What are you sorry for, Jaybird?” He listens to Jason take a shaky breath before he begins talking.

“Everything. Going out on my own, getting caught. Being used as bait. Not figuring a way out. Dick could have died, fighting Slade. It’s all my fault.”

“I’ll tell him, if you want. But I don’t think all of that is your fault, and I doubt Grayson does either.” He cuts off Jason’s protests before they can start. “I know, you think it is. I’ve been there, believe me. But everything that happened after Slade caught you? That’s on him, and no one else. Not you, and not Dick. Because I’m sure he’s blaming himself just as much.”

“For what?”

“For letting you fall.”

Jason’s breath catches, and he presses his face against Roy’s shoulder as he mumbles something.

“What was that, Jay?”

Pressure lessens as he lifts up just enough so he isn’t talking into Roy’s shirt. “Wasn’t his fault.”

“Exactly. And it wasn’t yours either. One day you’ll realize that.”

“The art of lying to yourself, huh?”

Roy smirks. “Exactly. That, and a few good people to help you get your head on straight and keep it that way.”

Jason is quiet for a minute, and then he sits up and Roy lets him go.

“Can I borrow your phone?”

“Sure.” Roy pulls it from his pocket and hands it over. “Want me to text Dick first?”

“Yeah. Text him first.”

<<Found your little wing. He’s safe, with me.

Roy hands the phone over, and Jason snorts as he reads the message.

“What the fuck, man.”

Roy shrugs. “Just call him already, Jaybird.”

Jason takes the phone and Roy decides the he should go pick up breakfast from the nearby bakery. He gets a thumbs up and ‘blueberry muffin’ from the kid, and heads out just as he hears Jason say, “Hey, Dick.”

They’ll be okay. Eventually.


End file.
